


The Turtle Truth and Nothing but the Truth

by Perhapsormaybe



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, Multi, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-02 08:39:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19195447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perhapsormaybe/pseuds/Perhapsormaybe
Summary: When Nino sees Marinette detransform, neither is prepared for the fallout. The secrets, the lies...the potential to be mistaken for cheating. Relationships are getting tested and strained all over the place.





	1. Bad Liar

It was stupid of her, in retrospect, to duck back into the school before her transformation had worn off. Marinette had thought for sure that all of the other students were still outside after the last Akuma, as school was over for the day. Sure, it was early enough that some clubs should be hanging around but she had thought it would be fine.

What she hadn’t counted on was a new album release. One of Nino’s favorite bands had dropped a new CD and he was still hanging in the hallway listening to the music, lost in his own world. Ordinarily, Alya stepped in on these occasions to help him back to reality and on track to get home, but she had run off in favor of getting a new scoop. 

He was on his third play through, on the second song when he had happened to look up. Ladybug was down the hallway. He lifted a hand and waved to her, calling out a friendly hello…just as her transformation wore off.

Had he known what was about to happen, he would have looked away. But with no warning, he had ended up seeing her. Nino coughed awkwardly, trying to shift his attention into another direction, but it was impossible.

There was a noise coming from Ladybug’s civilian form that sounded like a balloon deflating. It grew louder until it turned into a shriek. For a moment, Nino thought his own internal screaming had finally found its voice. But no. It was Marinette. She recovered her composure and glanced around nervously.

“Hi, Nino…you didn’t see …that is, there was nothing to see, right?” Her eyes were enormous, pleading. 

Nino wanted so badly to lie to her. “Nothing at all, dude! Didn’t see you transform back!” he replied cheerfully. But then groaned a moment later as he realized his mistake. Alya was always telling him he sucked at lying. She was right. 

“Please don’t tell Alya,” Marinette squeaked out, “or anyone. But, please, please, especially not Alya. She would kill me for keeping this from her!” She had closed the distance between them and was right in front of him, her hands clenched tightly into fists.

Nino gave her a thumbs up. “It’s cool, Marinette. I’m not going to tell anyone.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “We owe you and Chat Noir a lot. Really. This is awesome. And I’m not going to tell anyone.” He removed his hand and used it to make a zipping motion across his mouth. 

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I appreciate it. …You won’t tell Adrien, either, right?”

“Of course not, dude,” He agreed. “I’m not telling anybody. This is just between us. Promise.”

________________________________________________________________________________

“I can’t believe I messed up so badly,” Marinette grabbed her pillow and slammed her face into it multiple times as though the pillow could beat the memory out of her. She was in her bedroom and should have been asleep, but her mess up from today was making it impossible to clear her head enough to get any rest. “Nino knows now and …what do I do, Tikki?”

The kwami gave a shrug. “There’s nothing we can do now, Marinette. Just trust your friend.”

Marinette moved the pillow to her lap and curled up around it. She had sometimes thought what it might be like to have someone know. But in those thoughts or daydreams, it had never been Nino to find out. Her typical daydream was about revealing herself to Chat - only after Hawk Moth was defeated, of course. Occasionally it would be Alya, as she still felt guilty sometimes for not sharing her secret with her best friend. And of course there were the thoughts of revealing herself to Adrien… but Nino? The thought had never crossed her mind.

She and Nino had known each other for years, and she liked the guy. But she had never entrusted him with a secret, so who was to say how capable of guarding her biggest one? After all, Alya often bragged that the pair had no secrets in their relationship - or at least she had started making that claim shortly after Nino had found out about Alya being Rena Rouge. 

Marinette began to rock back and forth, her brain full to the brim of nightmare scenarios. What if he accidentally outed her to the entire class? What if he told Alya and Alya put it on her blog? Or what if he told Alya and Alya got mad that Marinette hadn’t told her first? The What Ifs dragged her through scenario after scenario, each one worse than the last. She shuddered and collapsed into the bed . 

Tikki curled up beside Marinette, snuggling the girl’s cheek. “It’s all right. You can trust him. Nino’s your friend.”

“You always told me I needed to keep my identity secret.”

“For your own safety. Things can happen that others don’t intend…like Hawk Moth creates an akuma that forces the truth out of people …or-”

Marinette let out a loud “Ugh!” that cut Tikki off. “I shouldn’t have let him find out and now he knows and …and …”

“Marinette, there is nothing we can do. So you have to trust him.”

Marinette nodded and curled up on her bed. “I guess all I can do is try to get some sleep.”

Tikki nodded her agreement, not pointing out that Marinette had been fretting for so long that she only had half an hour before her alarm would go off.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nino was facing his own kind of trouble that night. Most nights he and Alya would talk on the phone or at least text each other. He had been hoping to only use text. But his girlfriend called, and he was too nice to make an excuse. 

“How’s the new CD?” Alya asked cheerfully. 

“Great,” he choked out. “It was great.” The phone call should have been easy. She wasn’t even talking about super heroes right now. But Nino was surprised by the sudden urge he had to tell her everything. After all, Alya had been trying to figure out Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities since they had first shown up on the scene. 

“Are you ok?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” He could hear his voice going up an octave. He tried to force it down, so the next sentence came out far deeper than his real voice. “I’m just fine…”

Alya chuckled. “You sound like a pack-a-day smoker right now. What are you hiding?”

“Hiding?!” Nino sat up as straight as possible in his chair, the same way he did when Mademoiselle Bustier got onto him. “I’m not hiding anything. Just talking to you, dude. …Did you get your scoop?”

“The akuma was the old librarian at the library near the school. Madame …I don’t remember her name. She was upset about someone losing some of her books. Flew around on a giant book, but I didn’t see any of the rest of the fight so I don’t know what her abilities were. Most of my shots were blurry today.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not a big deal, it’s not like we don’t get an akuma or two a week,” he could practically hear her shaking her head, “Poor Chat and Ladybug are probably exhausted.”

“Yeah…” he trailed off, thinking for a moment about Marinette. She probably was exhausted. What with school, and being a superhero, being the student representative, helping her parents in the bakery, plus she still found time to design and sew. Nino suddenly felt very sorry for the girl.

“You sound far away tonight,” Alya interrupted his thoughts. 

“Oh, sorry, I’ll move closer to the phone.”

“Not what I meant. I mean, you’re miles away mentally. Did something happen today?”

“Uhh…”

“Spill.”

“The new CD was very …uh…it just had a lot of deepness to it,” Nino finished lamely, casting about his mind for part of the lyrics he could pass off as being profound. But he couldn’t even recall the name of any of the songs at the moment. It was like seeing Marinette detransform had forced everything else out of his brain.

“I’ll have to look into it, then.” Alya yawned, “But for now I need to head to bed. I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Of course, dude.”

Nino hung up the phone and found he was physically and emotionally exhausted. Unfortunately, he was completely mentally awake. He had forgotten for a moment that tomorrow was still a school day. He would have to see Marinette, and he knew he was going to act funny around her. Which would mean that Alya would start asking questions. And possibly Adrien as well. He started pacing around his room, wondering what he was supposed to do.

Obviously, he needed to keep Marinette’s secret. She hadn’t wanted him to know, and even though he’d always been curious about Ladybug’s identity he really wished he could just wipe his brain clean of the memory. He was really wishing he was a better liar at this point, and made a mental note to maybe corner one of the drama students and see if one of them could advise him. But first he’d have to get through tomorrow. 

“I can do this. All I have to do is lie to my best friend, and to my girlfriend.” Saying it out loud made it sound worse somehow. “It’s not a lie,” he amended. “I’m just not telling them something that they would both really like to know…but I have to keep it from them, because Ladybug has to stay safe.” That last part was true, of course. It’s not like Marinette was locking them all out of her secret because she didn’t want to share. A more selfish part of him whined that Marinette knew he was Carapace and that Alya was Rena Rouge, so what did it matter if he and Alya knew about her?

But that was different. Of course that was different. Hawk Moth only wanted Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. He paced around his room, arguing with himself for hours, stopping every once in a while to note that the next school day was getting dangerously close. 

When his alarm went off, he still hadn’t gotten any sleep. “It’s ok,” Nino assured himself. “I won’t tell anyone. She’s trusting me. I’ve got her back.”


	2. Secrets Don't Make Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's only day one of trying to keep the secret. Why is it so hard already?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kind responses and kudos so far!

Nino had thought he was prepared for the next school day. In fact, on any other day he would have been ahead. He had all of his schoolwork done and had studied for his upcoming test. He had felt so mentally prepared, aside from the whole “Marinette is Ladybug” thing. And even though he and Marinette were not particularly close, this was overriding everything else today.

When he showed up to school, Marinette wasn’t there yet. Not odd, but his first thought had been that there must have been an Akuma. Alya had shaken her head and said that no alerts were going out, and had wanted to know why he would assume that would affect Marinette anyway, when she lived so close to the school?

“Well, things can happen..” he muttered, trying to think something up. Adrien’s arrival saved him, at least momentarily. “Dude!” he called out, waving, happy for the ability to change the topic. “Over here!”

“Morning, Adrien,” Alya greeted him before pocketing her cell phone, content that she hadn’t missed an Akuma sighting. “Can you please remind your best friend - who I will remind you has known Marinette longer than either of us - that Marinette is almost always late to school?”

Adrien nodded his agreement, but looked pensive. “Could something be wrong? Should we go check on her?”

Alya smiled knowingly. “She would appreciate it, I’m sure, but it’s Marinette. She’s probably on her way right now, just overslept.” Nino wasn’t going to argue with that. The truth was, Marinette was often late to school, even before Ladybug had started showing up in Paris. He found himself wondering just how long she had been at the whole superhero thing. Had Marinette only been late all those times because she was busy saving the world?

Lost in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice Marinette running into the school until she tripped and fell into him. Alya and Adrien helped them both back to their feet, but as soon as Marinette realized who she ran into her eyes went wide and she was steadfastedly refusing to make eye contact. “Sorry, Nino,” she muttered. “Was just trying to make it on time. Not much sleep last night. …See you guys in classsorrygottagobye!!” she ran off again without letting anyone else get in a word.

“Did something happen to Marinette?” Adrien cocked his head to the side, not sure whether he was directing the question to Alya or Nino. Normally it would be to Alya, but he had noticed that though her eyes turned away from Nino, Marinette’s body language had all been directed at him.

“Not that I know of-” Alya started, just as Nino said “Nothing, nothingNOTHINGHAPPENEDSHOULDN’T WE GET TO CLASSNOW?”

His words were only slight more enunciated than Marinette’s had been. Alya raised an eyebrow, and Adrien put a hand on Nino’s shoulder. “You didn’t do something to upset her, did you?”

“No, dude!” Nino insisted. “Nothing’s going on with Marinette. She’s cool, we’re cool. It’s all cool.” Adrien waited patiently for Nino to continue, but he was keeping quiet. Adrien removed his hand from Nino’s shoulder, but Alya grabbed Nino's shirt collar to haul him back.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I will find out,” she said it without menace, yet Nino was suddenly terrified. “It will probably be easier if you just tell me.”

“Don’t we have class to get to?” Nino tried desperately, wishing that he had ran off before the interrogation the way Marinette had.

“You’re right,” Alya conceded. She was smiling, but that didn’t make Nino feel any better. “We’ll talk after school.”

* * *

Sitting next to Nino every day meant Adrien couldn’t possibly ignore the off way his best friend was acting, even if he wanted to. He kept glancing at the clock, and Adrien could have sworn he heard Nino gulp every time five minutes went past. He also kept glancing behind him. Normally, when he did this it was for surreptitious looks at his girlfriend. But instead, his body was shifting towards Marinette.

Adrien’s first thought was that Nino wanted to look at Alya, but whatever he was hiding was making him shy away from her direction. But when he stole a glance behind him and realized that Marinette was staring intensely at Nino (or at least at the back of his head), he knew that whatever Nino was hiding, Marinette was involved. He tried to get Marinette’s attention by waving at her, but even though he could tell she saw him she ignored the gesture. For a moment he felt like pouting but told himself to get over it.

But still, he was hurt. Marinette had never ignored him before. She hadn’t liked him when they first met each other, but he thought that was water on the bridge at this point. And Nino was his best friend. The only thing Nino didn’t know about Adrien was about his activities as Chat Noir. And Nino was an open book, so far as Adrien knew. The guy wasn’t hiding anything.

Adrien started fidgeting with his pencil, trying to think up an explanation. But the one he kept coming back to just didn’t seem like Marinette or Nino to him. Sure, Nino used to have a crush on Marinette, but he’d gotten over it and fallen hard for Alya. And Marinette …well, Adrien was pretty sure she had something going on with Luka. But still, people fall out of love…

Adrien shook his head as though it would force the thought away. His friend was not a cheater, and Marinette wasn’t that kind of girl.

* * *

 Just like the other three, Alya could not have told you what wisdom Madame Bustier was trying to impart today. She trusted Nino and Marinette, so the idea of them cheating hadn’t crossed her mind. But she was making a list of ideas for what they were trying so hard to hide from her.

_1\. Surprise party for me?_

Couldn’t be. Her birthday wasn’t for months and she didn’t have any other big things to celebrate right now. Besides, right now Marinette was grinding her teeth so loudly that it was making Alya wince. No, Marinette was anxious and upset, not nervous.

_2\. Nino told Marinette that Adrien likes someone else_

Plausible; however, Marinette would never have held that against Nino. Unless _Nino_ were the someone else, Alya chuckled to herself. Besides, if that were the case Nino probably would have asked Alya to break the news instead.

_3.Marinette knows about Carapace_

Hmm. Possibly she had something there. Nino would probably be embarrassed that he wasn’t very good at hiding his identity. After all, Alya had figured him out the very first time he went out as a hero. Might explain why he was upset. But it didn’t cover why Marinette seemed to be so anxious and upset. Unless she was jealous? Maybe. After all, Marinette could be a pretty jealous person, though so far as Alya had seen that mostly extended to her feelings towards Adrien and whenever Lila tried to get close to him.

But then… What if Nino had told Marinette about Alya being Rena Rouge? That would give Marinette more of a reason to be jealous, thinking that everyone was running around without powers except her, and of course Nino would be feeling ashamed if he had let slip not only his own secret but Alya’s as well. She narrowed her eyes and whipped around in Nino’s direction.

“I know what you did,” she mouthed at him.

Nino stifled a scream and looked at the clock. This class should have been over by now. But when he looked at the clock, it betrayed him by showing that only twenty minutes had gone by. “Can we talk later? It’s …probably not what you think?” he whispered.

“Probably?!” Alya whispered back in a shriek, but it came out loud enough that Marinette’s head snapped in their direction and Adrien shifted his focus back to his friends as well. He wasn’t sure what had just happened, but now both girls were giving Nino death glares.

The girls turned back around after a moment and went back to pretending they were listening to the teacher. Nino was having to weigh his options right now. The glare Marinette had given him wasn’t her usual look. In that moment, it was so obvious she was Ladybug that, given different circumstances, he would be laughing at himself for not realizing it sooner. But the Ladybug glare going in his direction? Terrifying. But the one Alya had given was at least as scary, if not possibly more so. He was regretting he hadn't just stayed home 'sick' when an idea occurred to him.

“Dude, you still need my help today?” Nino was trying to carefully regulate his voice so that Alya and Marinette would hear him, but Mme. Bustier would not. Adrien gave him a quizzical look, but Nino jotted something down and pushed the paper in Adrien’s direction.

_Dude, please save me_. While Adrien agreed that Alya could be intimidating - nice, of course, but he wouldn’t ever want to be on her bad side - he was struggling to see what Nino could have done to upset Marinette. “Yeah, thanks for remembering,” Adrien stage whispered back, figuring he should probably help his friend out. “It’s so cool that my dad is finally letting me pick my own music for his next show,” perhaps not his best lie, but one that the girls would both buy. After all, who knew music like Nino? “You still coming by after school?”

“Of course. _Immediately after_.”

“Yeah, we’re still riding together, right? Dad won't be home and the gori---...my body guard probably won't say anything” Adrien commented nonchalantly as he jotted down something on Nino’s note and pushed it back to him. Nino read it and found himself wishing he hadn't involved Adrien: _Happy to help, dude. But you have to tell me what you did_


	3. Cheese, Cats and Turtles

Adrien had helped Nino dodge Alya and Marinette the entire school day. It had been difficult at first, but Adrien knew a thing or two about when to ask for back up. And so, when Alya started in their direction at the end of the final class of the day, it was Kim who intercepted.

“When you gonna start a sports blog?”

“What? No, I do the Ladyblog. You can start your own blog, Kim. Exccuse me,” Alya attempted to push her way around him. But years of sports meant he had excellent footwork and he nimbly moved himself back in her path.

“I know you do, but what if you also did a sports blog. I could help you write it.”

“How about _you_ make a blog and I will help you with it. Now, out of the way, Kim,” she pushed him this time, but Adrien had already hustled Nino out of the school. He had expected Marinette to put up some sort of fight, but when they passed her she merely gave Nino an indecipherable look.

Alya started to jog to try to catch up, but they were in the limo before she even reached where Marinette was standing, just outside the front of the school. “Darn him,” Alya muttered, “I am going to get him back for this.”

“So why are you upset with him?” Marinette hadn’t really spoken to Alya all day, so her sudden question made Alya jump. “Did he forget something? Your birthday’s not for a while, and you haven’t been together long enough for an anniversary.”

“Why are you upset with him?”

"I’m not upset!” Marinette insisted. “It’s nothing!”

“Nothing, huh?” Alya smirked. “You’re both getting awfully worked up over ‘nothing’, you know that?”

“It’s just …Alya,” Marinette’s voice suddenly went serious. Alya straightened up and moved closer - Marinette was also speaking very softly. “How much do you trust Nino?”

“Completely,” Alya didn’t hesitate for a moment. “I would trust him with my life. Of course, he’d want to make sure to protect me…” she chuckled, thinking about Carapace and knowing Marinette wouldn’t get the joke (as far as she knew, anyway….) "I completely trust him, one hundred per cent."

“Ok,” Marinette said. She didn’t speak further on the subject, just started walking home in a daze. “Do you want some company, space cadet?” Alya jokingly knocked on Marinette’s forehead. “Anyone there?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. But I have to help at the bakery today. You know how it is!” Marinette took off in a sprint, headed in the direction of her home.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Alya mumbled to herself.

* * *

“What happened?” Adrien demanded as soon as the limo was in motion. Nino suddenly became very interested in the window controls.

“Can anyone see through these windows, dude? Guess not. Rich people need their privacy,” he rolled the window down and then back up a few times. Adrien waited patiently for him to finish.

“What happened?” Adrien repeated. In answer, Nino went back to rolling the window up and down. They went that way the whole car ride - every time Adrien asked, Nino immediately started messing with the window controls. But Adrien was a pretty patient guy, and the school ride wasn’t that long. When they pulled up in front of the Agreste mansion, Adrien slid out first and held the door open for Nino before closing it for him. He decided he’d give Nino a few minutes to compose himself before he asked again.

They stopped by the kitchen and grabbed snacks before heading up to Adrien’s room. Once there, Nino set his stuff down but noticed that Adrien was setting some cheese in his backpack. “Dude, I don’t think you want to do that…”

“Hmm?”

“You’re putting Camembert in your backpack. Your bag is going to smell if you do that. Why not just eat it?”

Adrien tensed. “I’m just saving it for later…like for school tomorrow…”

“So why not wait until tomorrow to put it in your bag? Seriously, bro , it’s gonna reek if you do that.” Adrien nodded his agreement, but still looked tense. He slid his backpack down onto the floor and set the cheese on his computer desk. Nino thought he heard an angry grumble come from Adrien’s bag, but brushed it off.

The teens stayed in silence for a few minutes, Adrien sitting down in his computer chair and Nino leaning awkwardly, his arms resting behind him on the back of the couch. He pushed himself up to standing after a moment. “Video games?” He asked hopefully.

Adrien snapped out of his daze and threw a controller in Nino’s direction.“So …Marinette,” he said as nonchalantly as he could, reaching to turn on his computer to boot up a game. “Is she upset on you on Alya’s behalf?” Adrien suggested. “Alya didn’t seem mad until later in the day…”

Nino groaned. “Can we just play Battletech or Scuzz Brothers or …or Ninja Sim? Do we have to talk?”

“Price of admission,” Adrien reminded him. “The girls are our friends, and honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen Marinette out of sorts about something for so long,” He didn’t mention that it was upsetting him as well. Seeing Marinette as anything other than bubbly, klutzy or determined was weird to him. He didn’t like seeing her like this.

Nino started pacing, weighing his options. He couldn’t tell Adrien that Marinette is Ladybug. But maybe he could find a halfway? Adrien could respect promises, so why not just tell him that? “The thing is,” he turned and headed in Adrien’s direction but tripped over the backpack Adrien had left beside him on the floor. The contents spilled out, and Nino tripped and fell on top of all of them. “Oww…”

“Oww!” Nino blinked a few times, sure he was seeing something that he couldn’t have been. Out of Adrien’s backpack, a small creature was nursing its wounds, glaring openly at Nino.

“That’s a stuffed animal,” Adrien said quickly, scooping it up and stuffing it back in his backpack.

“No. …No, that is a kwami,” Nino said the last word in amazement. “A cat kwami. Which means….”

“Which means nothing! It’s just a toy,” Adrien repeated, trying to shove the controller back in Nino’s face in a desperate bid to distract him. But then suddenly, it hit him. “Wait. ….how do you know what a kwami is?”

“You’re Chat Noir!” Nino breathed out, just as Adrien was saying “You’re Carapace!”

Then, they both said in unison “Ladybug is going to kill me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a short chapter. When I started this story I had no idea Nino was going to end up finding out about Adrien as well. So now I know even less about what I'm doing than I usually do.


End file.
